First Minister of Ming Dynasty Chapter 204

How many transactions, how many currencies are issued.

As long as the corresponding commodities can be exchanged, there will be no problem of over-issue of currency.

In fact, there is also a problem with issuing banknotes based solely on the stock of gold and silver, and it is also a problem that many people ignore. Because commercial transactions objectively require a certain amount of currency, the more developed the business, the more currency is needed.

In the past dynasties of China, after the world was at peace, it didn't take long for the price of food to plummet. For example, in the early Tang Dynasty, there were several thousand words for a bucket of rice, but soon after the world was at peace, there were records of four or five words for a bucket of rice. hundreds of times more.

For this situation, most people still hold a positive attitude, thinking that the prosperous world is prosperous, the people are prosperous, the price of rice is reduced, and the people's livelihood is good, and even the cheap rice price is regarded as a political achievement, as a feature of a peaceful and prosperous era, and greatly advocated.

In fact, with a little common sense in economics, you will find that this is problematic.

A bucket of rice is worth several thousand yuan, of course not, but the low price of grain hurts the farmers, and the consequences are even more dire.

Because in general, although the common people do not use much currency, they always use some currency to pay exorbitant taxes and to celebrate weddings and funerals.

Grain prices plummeted, farmers couldn't exchange enough currency, and when they encountered money, they had to borrow money. Some people had to sell their land and go bankrupt if they could not afford usury... Therefore, looking at the first few decades of the past dynasties, There is such a rule. First, because the war has just ended, there is a lot of waste waiting to be done, and the prices are extremely high.

Then, within a few years, as production resumed, food prices plummeted, and the imperial court entered a prosperous era. Then, in the prosperous world, there are crises. The income of the common people has declined, bankruptcy has increased, and mergers have become more and more serious. After a few decades, there will be crises and adjustments are urgently needed, and the voices of reform will be heard one after another.

From the Han Dynasty to the Tang and Song Dynasties, it basically came like this.

The reason for this situation is naturally very complicated, but it is also related to the lack of precious metal supply... The price of rice has plummeted, and from another perspective, the price has skyrocketed.

Why is money worth more?

Because of the lack of gold, silver and copper.

To put it more bluntly, if the treasured banknotes are simply bound to gold, silver and copper, and there is not enough precious metal reserves, so many banknotes will not be issued... As a result, the banknotes are still expensive and food is cheap, and the people suffer.

So after all, behind the banknotes is by no means a pure currency reserve, but a commodity production capacity endorsed by national credit.

There are two elements here, one is national credit, and the other is the production capacity of commodities.

National credit is easy to understand. What is the production capacity of commodities? It is to have enough commodities, otherwise, even if your currency is universal and your credit is unparalleled, but your industry is hollowed out, and you start the nuclear power money printing machine, there will definitely be inflation, and it will become more and more. more serious.

Zhang Ximeng explained his thoughts to these guys, and everyone was refreshed. Although they didn't immediately drop to the ground, they all admired him.

It's just that Song Lian asked curiously, "Zhang Xiang, how much business is going on in the private sector, how do we know this?"

Sun Yan thought about it for a while, and even took the initiative to say: "Actually, it's not difficult. We can count the amount of farmland we receive. Based on the farmland, we can know how much grain the people have. The common people have to sell the grain before they can buy what they need. Commodities. How much the people buy, how much the workshop will make... There may be a gap in the middle, but it is not impossible to estimate. Fortunately, when the average farmland is average, no one can evade taxes. It is not difficult to estimate. If it is placed in the Yuan Dynasty, only I'm afraid it's going to be the opposite, and the difference is terrible."

When Sun Yan said this, he also looked at Timur first, and even felt a little sympathetic to him. It is also a matter of fiddling with banknotes, and Tuotuo's change of banknotes cannot be said to be completely wrong, but it is a pity that his luck is too bad. Yuan Ting is rotten from top to bottom, good things will fail, and bad things will fail. To sum up, no matter whether you understand the king or sleep the king, no one can do it, and it will be hard to return to the right.

Zhang Ximeng nodded slightly, but he didn't expect that his secretary was really talented. It seemed that their family was tinkering with business, and some experience was normal.

"Yes, we can estimate the approximate volume of private transactions. But there is one more thing that we need to be careful about, and that is external damage!"

Jia Lu asked curiously, "Can you say Zhang Shicheng?"

Zhang Ximeng said: "At present, we mainly produce grain. Although silk and cotton cloth are produced, the quantity is not as good as Zhang Shicheng's, and the other is salt! If Zhang Shicheng used salt to buy grain, causing food shortages, or accumulated a large number of treasured banknotes to exchange for gold and silver, Any price fluctuations will affect the stability of our banknotes."

Listening to Zhang Ximeng's analysis, if it was the generals in the army, they would probably be shouting to destroy Zhang Jiusi.

However, there are obviously literati here, and their thinking is naturally different.

Liu Bowen said: "Nowadays, everything is waiting to be done. It's enough for ordinary people to wear coarse clothes. Silk and cotton cloth, which can be used in the military, can be used for this. But the most troublesome thing is salt! Firewood, rice, oil and salt are also indispensable. It is a people's livelihood material, if Zhang Shicheng holds it in his hands, it will be very detrimental to us."

Song Lian said: "There are no more than three places for salt production in the world, sea salt in the southeast, pond salt in the northwest, and well salt in Bashu, but we don't share the same, how can this be good?"

Liu Bowen smiled, "Brother Jing Lian, why did you forget Fang Guozhen?"

"Fang Guozhen?"

"That's right! He is now fighting with Zhang Shicheng, and the consumption is definitely not small. Some time ago, he sent his son over, and the superiors talked to him about salt... If we can think of a way to get more salt from Fang Guozhen, Zhang Shicheng We won't be able to pinch our necks. Maybe, we can still sell salt and make some money!" Liu Bowen is obviously more flexible than Song Lian, and this is not without reason.

In order to maintain it, all means of making money have been thought of.

For example, Liu Bowen knew very well that some Anhui merchants would go to the coasts of Jiangsu and Zhejiang to buy salt and sell it to the mainland to make a lot of money.

After a brainstorming discussion by the big guys, the whole situation became clear.

Zhang Ximeng concluded, "We must issue treasure banknotes, and the foundation of this treasure banknote is food-based commodities. In order to ensure the stability of the treasure banknote system, we need to figure out the amount of private trade, which is determined by Sun Yan picks up his head to calculate...if necessary, ask Li Xianggong for help and ask for the inventory of the household department."

Sun Yan hurriedly agreed, "I know about my humble position."

"There is a second item, salt, as a necessity for people's livelihood, is what we lack. We should reach an agreement with Fang Guozhen to hoard as much salt as possible... We have to adopt the official sales method, hold the salt in our own hands, and ensure the salt. Sufficient and stable salt prices. As long as the grain and salt are maintained, the treasured banknotes will not change much!" Zhang Ximeng said to Liu Bowen: "I am afraid that Mr. Bowen will come forward in this matter."

Liu Bowen was startled, "Zhang Xiang, me, I have a grudge with Fang's father and son, they want to arrest my whole family, I'll talk to him, the enemy will meet, I'm afraid..."

"What are you afraid of!"

Zhang Ximeng suddenly interrupted Liu Bowen and said with a sneer: "Now we are big, Fang Guozhen is small, our wife is flat, and he is fighting against Zhang Shicheng! We are not going to beg him for salt, but to give him a way to live! Mr. Bowen, You will spend more time dealing with outsiders in the future, so you can't be too gentleman!"

Liu Bowen took a deep breath, and his eyes gradually showed a look... In the distance, Timur also shivered, I guessed right, this person has a knife in his heart!

Let him deal with Fang Guozhen, isn't that a good time to complain about revenge!

Zhang Ximeng is really black enough. In the future, such lively things will be indispensable. It is really worth looking forward to!

After arranging these two people, there is actually one big thing left, and that is the currency itself, which must have sufficient anti-counterfeiting measures.

After all, everything they talk about is based on the real and effective currency. If any great **** comes out and prints out millions of treasure notes that are indistinguishable from the true and false, and put them on the market, they will be completely out of business. .

However, this kind of thing is not discussed with them, and professionals must be invited.

This boy Lu Zhou recruited printing and painting experts from Yangzhou, Yingtian, Xuancheng and other places. The big guys got together and studied the characteristics of Jiaozi and treasure banknotes, and then read the materials and summarized the anti-counterfeiting measures.

For example, the choice of paper ink, such as printing technology, such as special markings, and numbering banknotes, etc... I can think of almost everything.

In this way, they made the first batch of banknotes and sent them to Zhang Ximeng.

Zhang Ximeng looked at it briefly, and then asked a question that hit the soul, "That... can you still draw it?"

Lu Zhou was stunned, his eyes rolled a few times, and then he puffed out his cheeks and said, "I can draw it, but I can't draw it anymore."

"Why?"

"Because it takes three days to draw a piece of consistent money, I can now help identify counterfeit coins and make more money!" Lu Zhou said in a muffled voice.

Zhang Ximeng suddenly laughed, "Okay... so, is there still a possibility of fraud?"

"Well! There will be people who are better than me!"

Zhang Ximeng agreed: "It's not bad to be able to do this. No matter when it comes, it's impossible to completely eliminate counterfeit money, unless the big guys don't use paper money... Since the cost of counterfeiting is very high, I will arrange for someone to supervise In each market, identify counterfeit banknotes in a timely manner, find problems, and punish them severely!"

Lu Zhou was convinced.

Today, all preparations for the issuance of treasure banknotes have been completed.

Next is the official launch.

Who is lucky enough to own the first Huaxia banknote?

Is it the honorable Duke of Wu, Zhu Yuanzhang? Or which lucky businessman is it?

Obviously, the answer is Zhang Ximeng.

He came to the original food bank early, took out a gold ingot, and solemnly deposited it, and exchanged for one hundred and sixty-six Huaxia treasure banknotes.

But just after Zhang Ximeng left, this ingot of gold ingot immediately attracted the covetousness of countless people!

Where did Zhang Daqing get the gold ingot?

Isn't that what the thief stayed?

It's true!

It is said that this ingot of gold ingot is interesting... It was originally the golden Buddha that Fang Guozhen snatched, and I heard that it was to be dedicated to the Emperor Yuan of Dadu. As a result, it was stolen and melted into ingots.

Then the thief made a bet with others that he came to Jinling to steal a high-ranking official of the Zhu Family Army. He entered Zhang Xiang's house, but as a result, he stole nothing, but left an ingot.

This is an ordinary ingot, it's completely ironclad proof of Zhang Xiang's incorruptibility!

What's interesting is that Zhang Xiang issued treasure notes, and then deposited this ingot, which became the testimony of Huaxia treasure notes... The little gold ingot, how much meaning it has given!

This thing can be a family heirloom!

Maybe it can also ward off evil spirits~www.mtlnovel.com~ bless the peace of the house, and since then high officials will appear in large numbers, and the lintel will shine... Soon, a large group of wealthy businessmen and rich people in Jinling all ran to the food bank, even if they paid ten times, hundreds of times. The price, but also to get gold ingots!

Seeing that a lively auction is about to start, a person suddenly walked out from the crowd.

"Humph! You dirty hands are also worthy of touching Zhang Xiang's ingot! I tell you, no one can take it away! It's mine!"

"You? What are you? How much can you pay? Why should it belong to you?" A few wealthy businessmen are crazy about this unremarkable person. We want to invite you back and bless the things in the house. How could it be cheap for you, dreaming!

This person didn't rush, "I said it's mine, it's mine, none of you can take it away! Because this ingot is stolen goods! And I..." He pointed to his nose and said with a smile: "That's it. The thief who entered Zhang Xiang's mansion!"

After saying this, he put his hands behind his back and said proudly: "Come on, tie me up! By the way, bring the physical evidence! Let me see Prime Minister Zhang!"

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